Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks operate in a number of specific frequency bands and deliver a wide variety of information to an ever-increasing number and type of user equipment (UE). Typically, the use of different communication techniques is limited to licensed bands regulated by the federal government. However, the growth of data use is outstripping the availability of bandwidth in the LTE spectrum and consequently has led to a desire to expand LTE use by UEs and evolved node Bs (eNBs) beyond the licensed bands. This may result in additional complexity when LTE devices use unlicensed bands (LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) operation) as, while only LTE systems are able to legally operate in LTE bands and thus timing and scheduling of communications may be tightly controlled, LTE systems are to coexist with other systems in the unlicensed spectrum. In particular, LTE systems may wish to make use of the 5 GHz Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands, in which Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) systems using IEEE 802.11a/n/ac technologies have enjoyed widespread use by both individuals and operators for a variety of purposes.
Due to coexistence of multiple types of communications and devices in the unlicensed band (e.g., LTE-U/LTE-U UEs and WLAN-based communications/WLAN stations (STAs)), interference between the disparate systems may be introduced. It may thus be desirable to provide enhanced control of transmitter power and scheduling of LTE-U communications to minimize the interference on WLAN transmissions caused by LTE-U transmissions.